In A World Of Our Own (Westlife Fan Fiction)

Chapter 3

Ellen woke up the next day and immediately felt ill. Her eyes fluttered open but soon closed again after she realised she had a headache that felt like it could kill her if she opened her eyes again. She slammed her hand down on the cabinet next to her bed and moved it around, knocking her alarm clock and her watch on the floor. She slid her hand over the drawer handle and prised it open, still with her eyes closed. She dug around in the drawer and pulled out a pair of sunglasses, she placed them over her eyes and found the courage to flutter her eyes open again. She sat up in bed and swung her legs around. Her pyjama bottoms had lifted up around her knee caps, and she tugged them down and stood up from her bed. The look of pyjamas and sunglasses didn’t work very well, but Ellen felt so ill she didn’t care about the way she looked.

 She trudged into the kitchen and swung open the top cupboard. She opened the packet of paracetamol and popped two into her mouth one at a time, with a mouthful of water. She had a disgusted look on her face as she walked into the bathroom; she showered, dressed and brushed her pearly white teeth. She placed the sunglasses on the top of her head to test whether her eyes were too light sensitive due to the headache. They weren’t so she chucked them on the coffee table before walking out the door with a spring in her step. She was still over the moon about her meeting with the relatives of Westlife. She tried to start up the Vespa, but it wouldn’t start. Damn, she should have talked to her brother about getting an MOT or something. Today really wasn’t going to be her day.

 She decided that she should walk to work and call them on her mobile to let them know that she was going to be late. She crossed to the middle of the main road and as she was about to cross, a lorry sped past her and almost ran her over. She screamed and clutched hold of her chest. She felt weak. It wasn’t good to feel ill and then almost get run over.

 She eventually reached work, and as soon as she pushed through the door she felt soothed by the fact that her staff seemed to be running the diner like a well oiled machine. There were no problems. She laughed until she stood behind the counter and she soon got to work. The diner wasn’t very busy, but business was sure to pick up, it had to. She stood in the kitchen most of the day, flipping burgers and serving food to the hungry customers. Business did pick up and peaked around lunchtime, and again at rush hour. Ellen, for the first time in her life at the diner, was bored. Then she realised why; the record player wasn’t playing. Ellen sighed and walked over to the player, switched it on and clicked the button which would play the iconic song for the diner; Uptown Girl.

 Ellen swayed back to the counter and started doing tricks with the knife, to feed her bored appetite. She started singing along again, and the staff joined in. At the end of the song, everybody in the diner had a smile on their face, especially Ellen.

 By the time it was time to close up, all of the customers had long gone and Ellen sent the staff home early, there weren’t going to be any more customers and she still felt a little ill from the headache. The paracetamol hadn’t worked very well, but the customers and staff had been the only thing she needed, but now they were gone, and Ellen’s headache had returned like a boomerang. She rested her head on her hands and remembered that she hadn’t locked the doors yet. She remained sitting there; she just didn’t have the energy to move. She eventually pulled herself up from the chair where she sat, and walked over to the back door, with her feet dragging along the floor. She twisted the key in the lock and shoved the key in her pocket. She stood by the door, gathering her energy, and the record player was still playing. The song ‘I’m Already There’ began to play and Ellen found a new energy filling up inside her. She started singing along quietly, and then broke out into song:

 “I’m already there

Take a look around

I’m the sunshine in your hair

I’m the shadow on the ground

I’m the whisper in the wind

I’m your imaginary friend

and I know I’m in your prayers

Oh I’m already there”

 “Bloomin’ heck” a male voice broke the silence as Ellen finished singing the chorus. She turned suddenly on her heels and saw Kevin standing there, a shocked look on his face.

“I’m sorry you had to hear my awful singing” Ellen went bright red, she felt so stupid.

“Awful, that was amazing!”

“Really?” Ellen’s face started to return to its original colour.

“I never lie. Listen, to say thank you for your help yesterday, the guys wanted to give to this” He handed Ellen an envelope, sealed with Ellen’s name on the front in a handwritten font.

“The guys are who exactly?”

“Shane, Kian, Mark and Nicky or course”

“Oh those guys, seriously?”

“Yes, I’m sorry but I have to go now, I have somewhere to be, thanks again”

“Thank you, so much for this” Ellen waved the envelope in the air and a large grin grew on her face.

“See ya”

“That will be unlikely, but okay, see ya”

“More likely than you could believe” He smiled and walked out the door, leaving Ellen alone again. She wore a frown all the way over to the door and all the time she locked it from the outside after turning everything off. She walked whilst staring at the envelope all the way, home, and she didn’t realise that she had walked in the rain. She crossed the road to her block of flats and took the lift to the top floor, her flat. She walked in, leaving the door wide open and slumped down in the arm chair.

 She turned the envelope over and pulled at the seal. It soon came loose, but Ellen was almost too afraid to open it. She didn’t know why, it was most probably a thank you letter from everyone or money for the drink s that they had purchased but weren’t allowed to pay for. But it wasn’t. It was something much greater than that.

 Ellen pulled out the letter within the envelope and a separate piece of paper fell on the floor. Ellen leant down and picked it up and started at the tiny piece of ‘gold’, until her eyes grew wide as she realised the full extent of the gift. It was a ticket to their concert in London’s O2 Arena, one of their first concerts in that part of the UK. She let out a little scream and began to shed a few tears. She unfolded the letter with it and slowly began to read, making sure she took in every word. It read:

 Dear Ellen,

                     We may not know who you are but we are truly grateful to you for helping getting out family out of a tricky situation. As our gift to you we have provided a ticket for one to one of our gigs at the O2 Arena. Thank you for helping our partners and our children find us; otherwise they may still be lost now. This ticket is only a small price to pay and we would be grateful if you would join us and other fans in the meet and greet sessions available after the show. That is where we will thank you in person.

                   All the Best

                                Kian, Shane, Nicky and Mark Xx

 Ellen continued to cry. She placed the letter and the ticket gently down on the table and stood up slowly from the chair. She walked over to the open space connecting her kitchen and her living room and jumped up and down for ages. She screamed and clapped her hands together before rushing over to the phone and dialling Emma’s number. The phone rang for what seemed like forever before the answer phone message tone came up:

 “I’m sorry, but I am not in at the moment, please leave a message after the tone” The tone signalled and Ellen talked speedily into the phone.

“Emma, you will not believe what just happened, Kevin came round to the diner again and gave me a ticket to one of Westlife’s shows. Please ring me back when you get this”

 Ellen hung up and sat down, she no longer felt ill and she needed to celebrate. She was sure to gain a headache in the morning as she pulled out a bottle of vodka and some red bull. She was going to celebrate, Westlife style!